Ahead of New Year and Coptic Christmas, Egypt police kill eight Hasm terrorists

23-12-2018 09:56 PM

Nader Shukry

With Islamist terrorists notorious for waging attacks against churches on New Year and religious feasts, the police have conducted preemptive measures against terrorist groups.

A statement by the Ministry of Interior informed that the police have killed eight “high risk terrorists” and arrested four others in separate shootouts and security raids around Cairo and Giza. The terrorists belong to Hasm group, a group affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The statement said they had received orders from MB leaders outside Egypt to attack Christian targets during the Christmas and New Year season. Copts celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

The statement explained that National Security had got a lead that Hasm had received orders to attack Copts, Egyptian public figures and vital state facilities. Accordingly, the statement said, the police tracked the terrorists and raided their hideouts in Cairo and Giza. The encounters with the terrorists involved shootouts during which eight terrorists were killed. Others escaped through the desert Giza-Wahat road and are being pursued by the police.

The police has seized from the terrorists and their hideous arms, ammunition, electric circuits and material used to manufacture improvised explosive devices.

Reaching Out

Watani started as an Egyptian weekly Sunday newspaper published in Cairo. The word Watani is Arabic for “My Homeland”. The paper was founded in 1958 by the prominent Copt Antoun Sidhom (1915 – 1995), who strove for the establishment of a civil, democratic society in Egypt, where all Egyptians would enjoy full citizenship rights regardless of their religious denomination. To this day when Watani is published as a weekly paper and an online news site, the objective remains the same. Those in charge of Watani view this role as a patriotic all-Egyptian vocation. Special attention is given to shedding light on Coptic culture and tradition as authentically Egyptian, this being a topic largely disregarded or little-understood by Egypt’s media. Watani is deeply dedicated to offer its readers high quality, extensive, objective, credible and well-researched media coverage, with special focus on Coptic issues, culture, heritage, and contribution to Egyptian society.